A New Shade of Hope
by Sing To Life
Summary: After Zack's death, Cloud has never been able to forgive himself. Until this New Year's Eve. One chance encounter will change Cloud's world forever. Cloud x Tifa, Zack x Aerith AU


Fairy Tail

FFxKH

The moon was already high in the sky by the time Cloud arrived at the shrine. The stairs and surrounding courtyard were packed with families and couples ready to offer their first prayers for the new year. Young children ran around with high-pitched laughter as they chased their schoolmates around the yard. Their parents watched from a distance, chuckling to one another as they sipped the temple's rice wine. High school students gathered around the large bonfire, their friends sneaking off into the darkness for a little bit of privacy.

Cloud took the stairs two at a time as he made his way into the crowd. Checking his watch, he winced at the time. He mumbled a quiet curse and started weaving his way through the bodies around him towards their meeting place. At least with the snow and traffic, he would have an excuse, but he knew it would be lame at best. If he had left when he had claimed, he would have easily made it an hour ago with time to spare.

A head of spiky hair in the distance caught Cloud's eye. He immediately picked up his pace as his perpetual frown lifted just slightly. His destination was nearly in sight, and they had thankfully been patient enough to wait for him. They were definitely more than he ever deserved. More than he could ever have wanted.

At one point in his life, he would have never thought any of this could have been possible. As a down and out teen, he had turned to drugs in an attempt to keep his pain at bay. What he hadn't realized was that each time he took a hit, he allowed the demons inside him to grow even stronger. When he finally hit rock bottom, there had been no hope left, no one to turn to, no way to pick himself back up after all he had done. He hardly recognized who he had let himself become, and there was no one left to remind him.

As his thoughts strayed to darker times, his footsteps unconsciously slowed. His hands curled into tight fists inside his pockets. He ducked his face deeper into his scarf in an attempt to ward off the chill he could feel rising from deep inside him.

Luckily, two bodies colliding into his chest broke him from his thoughts. The shock knocked the breath out of him as he tried to maintain his balance, throwing his arms around their small shoulders to keep himself from falling over. Identical faces grinned up at him from between his arms, making his own mouth curl up into a small smile.

"Hey, Dad!" the twins chimed in unison, their cheeks bright from the cold, and their eyes twinkling.

Cloud chuckled lowly, reaching up to ruffle his sons' spiky hair. They immediately whined and retracted from him, grumbling about hair gel and styling time. Both boys had hair that sweeped up in blonde spikes like their father. But they had styled them in opposite directions in an attempt to be told apart. Thirteen years of being mistaken for one another had been way more than enough for either of them.

A little ways away, a tiny voice squealed in delight as a small blonde toddler rocketed her way over to them. Cloud instinctively bent over to scoop her up into her arms, holding her to his chest as she wrapped her pudgy arms around his neck and giggled happily.

"Daddy!" she cooed in her little 4-year-old voice. Her platinum blonde hair peeked out from under her little blue hat that matched her puffy jacket. Just like her brothers, her cheeks were stained pink, and her smile was bright.

Cloud brushed some hair away from her eyes. "Hello, Namine. Did you have fun today?"

Nodding her head, she dug her face into her father's neck and didn't elaborate, content to just be in his arms. She had inherited Cloud's naturally quiet nature, choosing to observe the world with her wide blue eyes than comment on every little thing like her older brothers.

"We had a great time with Aunt Yuffie!" interjected Ventus cheerily as he grabbed his father's hand and led him to a vacated bench along a side path.

Roxas grabbed his other hand, picking up where his twin left off. "We went to the zoo!"

"The polar bear just had a baby, and they finally let her out for everyone to see," Ventus seamlessly continued like it had been planned.

"Her name was Cookie, and she had the whitest fur and the cutest little face," Roxas sighed with a dreamy look.

"Namine really liked the penguins! She kept waddling around like them all day!"

"Aunt Yuffie got her a penguin stuffed animal to keep as a souvenir."

"And then she let us pick out what we wanted!"

"Ventus got gloves that look like rhinos."

"Roxas got these little candies in the shape of dolphins!"

Cloud let them fall into the familiar rhythm of their tales. Once they started, they would bounce back and forth until they either got into an argument over the details or something else caught their interest.

Yet, Cloud could listen to them for hours on end. The comfortable lull of their voices as the soft weight of his daughter lay on his chest might have been the simplest but greatest pleasure of his life. Fifteen years ago, he never would have imagined he could have pulled himself from the gutter let alone convince an amazing woman to fall in love with him and then father three beautiful children.

The snow continued to fall around them as the time slipped by towards midnight. More and more people filtered into the courtyard to claim their spot in line to offer their prayers once the gong had rung the final time for the year. Soon, his children would drag him over to join the queue, and he would have no choice but to comply. He might as well enjoy the last few minutes of peace he had.

As he gazed into the crowd, a flash of black distracted Cloud from his thoughts. For a moment, he felt like he was back in his teens, watching from a drug-induced haze as a group of policemen stormed their warehouse. He remembered a black blur before strong arms had picked him up and carried him out to a waiting ambulance.

He had woken up three days later to a smiling face and sky blue eyes at his bedside—a nurse coming in to check on him. She informed him that he had almost died from an overdose and that the police raid had saved his life.

He had almost died, lying there on that filthy concrete floor, drenched in urine and surrounded by waste. He would have wasted away in a cesspool of grime and scum, not a person in the world to care. Just another body on the pile, left out for the animals to scavenge before all that was left was an unidentified skeleton.

After the nurse had explained everything she could and ascertained that Cloud was stable, she left to grab a police officer. Her long brown braid had swung across her back as she floated out of the room, the scent of flowers left behind in her wake. It had been oddly comforting to Cloud.

She returned a few minutes later with a tall and leanly muscled man, his black hair done up in spikes poking out the back of his head with a few long pieces falling over his bright blue eyes. His official navy blue uniform and silver badge spoke of authority, but his gentle smile made his demeanor warm and open.

Sitting down next to Cloud's bed, he explained his side of the story. Apparently the police had been watching their group for a while, trying to nail down who the leader was and where they got their supply. They were able to determine that Sephiroth, a king-pin of the underground, was pumping experimental drugs into Cloud and his "friends" to both try out new product and keep them quiet.

Once that had been deduced, a plan had been made and executed to arrest the group. Knowing how dangerous Sephiroth could be, the police had sent in a small but elite squad to infiltrate the building and retrieve as many people and as much evidence as possible. The plan had gone off without a hitch.

After the explanation, the good-natured policeman asked Cloud a series of questions. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to answer much. Cloud didn't even remember how he had fallen in with them, let alone the inner workings of a complex drug hierarchy. All he had wanted was another hit, another high, to forget, to disappear. And Sephiroth had willingly given it to him.

Cloud stared at the wall, listening to the nurse explain his condition and all the options he had going forward. Since he was technically still a juvenile at seventeen, he would be able to get off slightly easier in court. If he chose to dedicate himself to getting clean, they could put him into detox as soon as his body was strong enough to handle it. Once he had gotten through the program, he would be on probation for a year with additional drug counseling classes every weekend to keep him on track. If not, the officer would have to take him into custody, and he would serve up to six months in prison in addition to mandatory detox within the facility.

The choice was obvious to Cloud. Even though he had no family and no hope left for his future, he knew if he didn't want to die like a dog, he needed to get clean.

The big surprise had come when, after all attempts to contact his family had ended in the expected failure, the policeman and nurse had offered to help him out. The man, he found out, was named Zack Fair. He had pulled a few strings to become Cloud's probation officer, and he took his job very seriously. The kind-hearted nurse, Aerith Gainsborough was his fiancé and girlfriend of five years and had a soft spot for troubled cases like Cloud. Together, they made it their mission to get him back on track. They got him set up in a local shelter, and even found him a place to work at the local repair shop down the street. In exchange, every Sunday, he would take the bus a few minutes across town to their house where they would enjoy a meal together, and Cloud would share his progress with them.

And he did make a lot of progress.

By the end of the following year, he had been promoted at work and was finally able to afford an apartment of his own. His girlfriend of a year, a lovely brunette named Tifa, was set to move in the following month. They were already starting to look at engagement rings.

Even though it had been difficult and downright torturous at times, he had gone the entire time drug-free. Every time he was about to slip, his new family had picked him back up and helped him regain his footing.

As far as Zack and Aerith went, they got married within the year, and she had become pregnant almost immediately after. Nine months later, she had given birth to a beautiful baby boy named Sora.

He was almost a year old when his parents died.

Ever since Cloud had escaped, he had wondered when Sephiroth would come back for him. He had been one of Sephiroth's favorites, his dog to kick when something went wrong or even when things went right. In exchange for the drugs, Cloud was Sephiroth's play toy to be used and abused. Sephiroth had enjoyed seeing the hope shrivel up inside Cloud every time he had put the needle to his arm, chipping away at what little light was left in his eyes.

It had taken Cloud months to stop checking over his shoulder whenever he went out. The shadows hid silver hair and cold eyes at every turn. He felt that at any second, Sephiroth would find him and drag him back into hell.

But Sephiroth had been smarter than that. He knew if he was to get Cloud back under his power, he'd have to destroy the few things left precious to him, the supports that held him from crumbling. He would take revenge on those that had stolen Cloud from him.

The call came at three in the morning.

Cloud had groaned, rolling over to check the time before grabbing his phone and sleepily walking into their living room as quietly as he could. Tifa had just gotten in a couple hours earlier after a twelve hour shift, and she needed all the sleep she could get.

"Hello?" Cloud had mumbled into the phone as he sat on their old couch and flipped the side-table light on.

"Is this Cloud Strife?" came a weary female voice through the receiver.

Closing his eyes and laying his head back against the wilted cushions, he hummed an affirmative. He knew he had to get up again in two hours to open shop. If he was lucky, he could finish the engine repair on the red station wagon before his boss got back from his weekly parts run. At this point, though, he just wanted to go back to sleep.

"You're listed here as the emergency contact for Zack and Aerith Fair. I'm very sorry, but there was a break-in. They were both critically injured."

Cloud sat bolt upright in shock. "What?! What happened?" he insisted loudly. He could hear Tifa shift in bed, but it was the last thing on his mind at that point.

"Sir, you'll have to come to the hospital for a full briefing," the woman sighed. "That's all I can tell you for now as you are not family. Once you're here, we can set you up to be their healthcare surrogate and release more information to you."

"Yes, yes. I'll be there soon," Cloud hastily replied before hanging up. Shoving his phone into his pocket, he dashed into their bedroom to throw some clothes on.

Three minutes later, he was hastily scrawling a note for Tifa before grabbing his keys and running out the door at high speed. He made it downtown to the hospital in record time, skidding into the parking lot on his motorcycle like a bat out of hell. Parking his bike on the sidewalk, he sprinted through the sliding doors and up to the main desk. People cast disapproving looks at his wild look and frantic nature, but no one gave him trouble.

The tired nurse behind the desk looked up as Cloud ran up to the desk. "How can I help you, sir?" she inquired patiently. She must have had a lot of experience with people like desperate to see their loved ones.

"I'm here to see Zack and Aerith Fair. I was told they were in critical condition," he rasped out, slightly out of breath from all his rushing.

Cloud didn't miss the flash of pity in her eyes before she directed him to the ICU waiting room on the third floor. He barely nodded at her before dashing off once again. He followed the signs to the nearest stairwell. The elevator would take too long for his frayed nerves.

In the waiting room, a stern doctor with white hair stood watching him with an intimidating frown on his face. The doctor approached him as soon as he caught sight of the blonde man running into the room.

"Cloud Strife? I'm Dr. Ansem Wise, and I'm in charge of the Fair's conditions for the moment. Please sit down," he gestured to a pair of seats just behind them.

Cloud reluctantly let himself be led to a chair. "What happened? Are they doing all right? he asked desperately, running a hand through his hair in distress.

Dr. Wise's frown deepened slightly. "There was a break-in at their home. The details are still being determined, but Zack apparently attempted to fight back. He was shot once in the shoulder, once in the hip, and then finally... in the head," the doctor hesitated slightly on the final words before continuing. "He was announced dead at the scene. We're unsure what happened next, but a neighbor called the police when they heard the shots. The attacker was gone by the time they had arrived. The paramedics found Aerith in the hallway, shot in the chest. They were able to revive her, but she has been in surgery since she arrived here. It's still very touch and go right now."

"And Sora?" Cloud whispered, burying his face in his hands. A numb feeling was starting to creep into his heart. "The baby?"

The doctor rubbed his short beard almost unconsciously. "He is unharmed and in the care of the state until a relative can be located."

Cloud only nodded, unable to form words. His whole world was breaking around him, piece by piece. Zack, his big brother in everything but blood, was gone. No longer would his bright smile and infectious energy bring hope back into Cloud's life.

And now even his wife, the woman he cherished most in the world and the mother of his child, was bleeding out on the surgeon's table.

Zack had never been so happy as the night he had burst into Cloud's apartment at one o'clock in the morning, drunk off his ass and beaming proudly. Aerith had taken a pregnancy test that afternoon, and it had come out positive. He was going to be a father!

Aerith died two days after being admitted to the hospital. The funeral was prepared, and they were in the ground within the week. Sora was shipped off to his mother's cousin, Squall Leonhart, not long after. Tifa announced her pregnancy not even a month later. Life was determined to soldier on, with or without them.

Now there they were. Cloud, sitting on a frozen iron bench, surrounded by the love of his small but perfect little family while they waited to welcome the promises of the new year.

Yet, there, not even a hundred feet away, the blur of black still held his eye.

A kid, no more than seven years old, appeared out of the sea of people. His black hair was spiked backwards like a giant wind had blown past, and it had frozen that way. As he turned to face his direction, Cloud could see a few stray strands framing his large blue eyes and wide smile.

Another person shifted slightly to the side.

Being pulled along behind him was a pretty little girl with rosy cheeks and long brown hair twisted into a long braid down her back. Her blue eyes sparkled in the light as she giggled joyfully, her short legs attempting to keep up with the boy's quick pace.

Cloud didn't notice how rigid his body had grown until he felt a small hand pull at his collar. Glancing down, his eyes met Namine's as she gazed up at him in concern.

"Daddy? Are you okay?" she whispered as soft as the snow falling around them.

That's when he noticed how quiet his sons had fallen. Glancing between Roxas and Ventus, he read the understanding looks they gave him. They might not have known the weight on his mind, but they clearly respected and loved him enough to know when their father deserved his space.

"Everything's okay," he reassured, pulling all three of his children close. He hugged them tightly, pouring every bit of the love he felt in his heart into his embrace.

The moment was interrupted when a light buzz came from the phone in his pocket. Cloud pulled back slightly to pull it free so he could read the message. He chuckled slightly before locking it and replacing it in his coat.

Smiling down at the confused faces looking up at him, he relayed the message, "Your mother's on her way with Uncle Leon and Sora. They'll be here soon." He left out the part where Tifa had mentioned how much she was looking forward to being wrapped in his arms again after her week-long business trip.

At his words, the kids jumped from the bench and started pulling him towards the line. The snow fell around them in its own joyful little dances as the moon crawled even higher into the clear night sky. In little less than an hour, they would tie their fortunes to the branches of the trees and return back to their normal, everyday lives of school and work.

Yet, for the first time since he had lost Zack and Aerith, Cloud felt optimistic for the future. The rising of the sun would bring with it a new day, a new opportunity for life, love, and happiness. Another chance to read Namine a nighttime story, another chance to destroy the twins in their favorite video games, another chance to feel his wife's warm breath on his bare chest as they fell asleep to the familiar creaks of their home.

And finally, he felt hope.

KH


End file.
